The danger of further unofficial action to disrupt mail services has increased, following a meeting of the Irish Postmasters' Union (IPU) in Portlaoise yesterday to demand withdrawal of the Postpoint system. This allows retail outlets to sell stamps, top-up cards for mobile phones and other services provided by post offices.
The IPU is to seek an immediate meeting with An Post. It says if the company refuses to abandon the Postpoint system, IPU members will ballot for industrial action over the next two weeks. However, IPU sources added that unofficial action similar to that which disrupted Portlaoise sorting office last week could well begin before then.
The decision to ballot for industrial action was taken at a mass meeting in Portlaoise. The chairman of the union in the south-east, Mr Thomas Martin, said the discussion at yesterday's meeting was "very open and frank, and people made their feelings known. The level of frustration is very high.
"Our executive is going to An Post tomorrow to demand immediate withdrawal of Postpoint. If An Post go ahead with it, anything could happen."
He rejected suggestions that local post offices should expand their own retail business. Those who could had already done so, he said.
The rest were too small or were in areas with well-established retail outlets already, "and we don't want to take other people's business."
Feeling is also running high among IPU members at the failure of the Government to implement a 12.5 per cent pay rise recommended in a special report to An Post by the ICC chairman, Mr Phil Flynn, last February.
The report also warned that losses from local post offices would rise from £12 million this year to £80 million by 2004.
Mr Martin said a third of the IPU's 1,800 members were earning less than £5,000 a year and 1,200 were earning less than the average industrial wage.
"Some members are giving customers social welfare cheques for more than they earn themselves," said Mr Martin.
Successive governments had promised to channel extra services to local post offices but had failed to do so. A spokesman for An Post said Postpoint had been in operation for over a year.
It was not possible to dismantle it and, even if it was, firms such as Eircell and Esat would simply give the business to someone else.